beer

Beer is the main attraction at Denver's Great American Beer Festival. But of course with the advent of legal marijuana, Colorado -- home of more than 200 breweries -- has another big draw. This year, at the Festival, one brewer offered a "cannabis-infused" beer, made with legal hemp oil, but with no THC.

Yes, sadly, the whole story is just half-a-step away from being cool, because commercially made "cannabis beers" aren't allowed under Colorado's legalization law. The THC is stripped from hemp used in the production of legal hemp oil used to make the cannabis-infused beer from Dad & Dude's Breweria, reports Chris Morris at Fortune

That means you won't get a cannabis high from drinking the beer; Indica Double IPA is made with cannabidiol (CBD), the non-psychoactive but medicinal cannabinoid which, though becoming more and more well known, is still obscure enough to have had its name misspelled as "cannabidoil" on Fortune Magazine's website.

Exactly why the beer is "cannabis infused" seems to be a bit unclear, since it isn't psychoactive, and Dad & Dude's cofounder Mason Hembree says the cannabidiol doesn't impact the flavor of the beer at all. Oh, wait, I almost forgot: marketing gimmick.

Those who enjoy the smell of marijuana along with their beer might be interested in a new offering from the District of Columbia's DC Brau brewery. "Smells of Freedom" is the brewery's newest seasonal India pale ale, and it doesn't contain any actual cannabis; the smell and taste were created with a combination of three hops, according to the company.

DC Brau founder Brandon Skall told The Washington Post that he doesn't smoke pot, although he believes those who want to should have that freedom, reports Catherine Moran at DC Inno.

The beer, fermenting since last fall, is only available in the District of Columbia, and Skall said he expected the 120 barrels of Smells Like Freedom to sell out quickly. DC Brau and Longmont, Colorado-based Oskar Blues Brewery, both of which can their beer rather than bottling it, had been thinking for more than a year of teaming up on a project.

Skall last fall laid out the case for doing a beer together based around D.C.'s legalization fight; Oskar executives liked the idea, and brewers there took to their lab, Skall said. They found three experimental hops that, when combined, smelled a lot like cannabis.